MARSHALL, Minn. — Pins from sophomore Blake Bosch and junior Chris Bascon sparked the Minnesota State University Moorhead wrestling team to a 25-15 win over Southwest Minnesota State in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference dual Saturday in Marshall, Minn.
MSUM improved to 6-5 overall and 2-4 in the NSIC with the win while SMSU fell to 8-9 overall and 3-5 in the NSIC.
“We wrestled a good dual,” MSUM head coach Kris Nelson said.
Novak got the Dragons on the board early, beating Landyn VanOverbeke by a 14-4 major decision at 125 pounds.
Moments later, Bosch picked up his second pin of the week with a victory by fall over SMSU’s Jordan Biehn in 1:10 to give the Dragons a 10-0 lead.
“Novak and Bosch got us started off great this afternoon with both recording bonus points for us,” Nelson said.
SMSU won the next two matches — by decision at 141 and major decision at 149 — to climb within 10-7.
Sophomore Garret Hoffner had a solid 5-3 win over SMSU’s Patrick Kelley at 157, and sophomore Dan Murakami earned a 3-1 win over Colton Vekved at 165 to push the Dragon lead back to 16-7.
“Garret Hoffner and Dan Murakami both won hard-fought matches,” Nelson said.
The Mustangs won by technical fall at 174 to cut the lead to 16-12, but the Dragons responded strong with wins by senior Shawn Porter and Bascon.
Porter took a 6-3 win over Brody Goens at 184 to give the Dragons a 19-12 lead, and moments later Bascon pinned Tristan Ezell in 6:28 to give the Dragons an insurmountable 25-12 lead.
“Shawn Porter and Chris Bascon sealed the dual for us,” Nelson said. “They were very tough in the top position.”
At 285, sophomore Nader Abdullatif battled tough for the Dragons against nationally-ranked Cole Wilson before falling 3-0 to make the final score of the dual 25-15.
Southwest Minnesota State will travel to Concordia-Moorhead next week for its final dual before the postseason.
MSUM is back in action on Feb. 20 at Mary. The dual begins at 7 p.m. in Bismarck, N.D. The Dragons’ home finale is Feb.21 against Northern State.
MSU-Moorhead 25, Southwest Minnesota State 15
125-Shane Novak (MSUM) maj. dec. Landyn VanOverbeke, 14-4
133-Blake Bosch (MSUM) pinned Jordan Biehn, 1:10
141-Trent Butcher (SMSU) dec. Philippe Walker, 12-5
149-John Weeding (SMSU) maj. dec. Austin Leibel, 11-3
157-Garret Hoffner (MSUM) dec. Patrick Kelley, 5-3
165-Dan Murakami (MSUM) dec. Colton Vekved, 3-1
174-Jacob Begin (SMSU) tech. fall Michael Joseph, 17-2
184-Shawn Porter (MSUM) dec, Brody Goens, 6-3
197-Chris Bascon (MSUM) pinned Tristan Ezell, 6:28
285-Cole Wilson (SMSU) dec. Nader Abdullatif, 3-0